The disclosure relates to construction of grow chambers for growing plants. The disclosure further relates to systems and methods for growing plants, including systems for growing of plants that employ a number of grow chambers in a stacked arrangement and including methods of using such systems to control and enhance plant growth. The disclosure further relates to apparatus and systems for automating the operation of growing systems, including automated components for shifting, lowering, removing or other manipulating of one or more grow chambers in a grow chamber stack.
Recent solutions have addressed challenges in the art to make emerging farming technologies more feasible for mainstream use and production of crops and for adaptation on a wide, commercial scale. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,848,545 and 10,076,090 to Joseph, et al., the subject matter of which is incorporated herein in its entirety, disclose stacked farming systems and processes which utilize stackable grow chamber systems for controlling the growth of different sections of a single plant. The stack of chambers may surround one or more growing plants, each plant extending within the stack of chambers and having a respective section in each of one or more of the stacked chambers, with each growing chamber surrounding a corresponding portion of the plant, such as a root mass, plant produce, plant stalk, plant canopy, etc. The grow chambers may be selectively added or removed during plant growth, with little to no disruption to the plant, such that different sections of the growing plant may be influenced differently by respective surrounding grow chambers and the unique environment that is created and controlled independently from the other chambers and respective plant sections housed therein. The grow chamber configurations may thus be utilized to manage and control plant growth, productivity, harvesting and prolong the productive life of the plant, thus enabling unique growing and harvesting methods and processes, providing growing systems that are efficient and productive such that the costs associated with operation are justified by the output produced. Such systems provide for increased control and management of plant growth and increase the production (yield), improve the product assortment available from plants, and increase the useful productive life of plants. There are continued challenges in the art to make known growing apparatus, systems and processes more suitable for mainstream and widescale production, transport and use and reduce manufacturing and crop production cost.
There is thus a need in the relevant art for solutions that address the aforementioned challenges and others in the art.